11 More Pro-Democracy MPs Detain by

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

Myanmar junta detains 11 more pro-democracy MPs

 .c Kyodo News Service    

BANGKOK, July 9 (Kyodo) - Myanmar's junta has detained 11 more pro-democracy
members of parliament (MPs) for defying junta-imposed travel restrictions and
orders to report twice a day to the authorities, a Bangkok-based pro-democracy
student group said Thursday. 

The All Burma (Myanmar) Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) said in a
statement, ''The arrests are part of a crackdown on MPs from the National
League for Democracy following the NLD's demand on June 23 to convene
Parliament within 60 days.'' 

The military government responded to the demand by forcing all NLD
parliamentarians to seek permission to travel outside their townships, and to
report twice daily to their local authorities, the ABSDF added. 

''Since the NLD's demand to convene Parliament, the authorities have detained
more than 50 NLD MPs,'' the statement said. 

After the travel restrictions were imposed, the NLD issued a letter urging its
members of parliament not to comply with the restrictions, the group said. 

''On June 30, the NLD also sent a letter to (ruling State Peace and
Development Council) Senior Gen. Than Shwe protesting the use of the 1961
Restriction and Bond Act to restrict the movement of NLD MPs,'' the students
added. 

The act restricts the movements of ''habitual'' criminals, they said. 

In the letter, the NLD cited the unjustness of the regime's restrictions and
the absence of legal representation for the detained members of parliament,
the students said. 

The group also said two of the 11 detainees have been sent to a ''prison labor
camp.'' It said some of the arrested MPs were delegates to the National
Convention, formed to draw up a new Constitution, and boycotted the convention
in December 1995. 

Others are close to Aung San Suu Kyi, the secretary general of the NLD, it
added. 

Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner, is currently under virtual house
arrest by the military regime and is not allowed to receive guests without
advance permission from the junta. 

AP-NY-07-09-98 0729EDT